Bishops and the archbishop of the diocese of Sydney have decided they cannot in good conscience attend the Lambeth 2020 Conference. Archbishop Glenn Davies wrote: 'It is highly regrettable to say this, but I believe the Anglican Communion has lost its moorings and has become, effectively, the "Canterbury Communion". In other words, rather than the Archbishop of Canterbury inviting those bishops who uphold the foundational trio of the Bible, the Book of Common Prayer (1662 edition, which includes the Ordinal) and the Thirty-nine Articles, he has erred in two respects. He has failed to invite bishops who uphold Reformational Anglicanism and has invited bishops who have repudiated these fundamental truths.'

Archbishop Jackson Ole Sapit of Kenya, who was invited to be the guest preacher at the Anglican Memorial in which 45 Ugandan martyrs, refused the homosexual advances of a king, congratulated Ugandan Archbishop Stanley Ntagali, a fellow GAFCON Primate for his recent announcement that he would not be attending the 2020 Lambeth Conference, saying: 'The liberals have their money, but we have the true gospel.' The Kenyan Archbishop said he would also not be attending. The Archbishop of Nigeria, Nicholas Okoh, has also said he and his fellow archbishops and bishops would not be going to Lambeth 2020, and ACNA Archbishop Foley Beach and his bishops have refused to attend as 'observers.'

"Pilgrims to the Uganda event responded with cheering and huge applause because they understood the lesson of the Ugandan martyrs that true discipleship in every generation is sacrificial and marked by the courage to stand firm in the face of ungodly opposition," wrote Beach.

The ACNA said that two million pilgrims attended the gathering at Namugongo near Kampala where both Anglicans and Roman Catholics were martyred between 1885-87 for being unwilling to give into the sexually immoral demands of the King and his friends. In recent years, attendance has increased dramatically with many people coming from well beyond Uganda itself. It has become a great festival of worship, teaching and fellowship demonstrating so wonderfully the vitality of African Christianity, said Beach.

The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) which met in Plano, Texas, on the occasion of its 10th Anniversary, heard Beach say that the Lambeth Conference and the Archbishop of Canterbury himself are in violation of Lambeth 1998 Resolution 1.10. They have done this by inviting those who are practicing and living in direct opposition to the content and the spirit of that motion.

Furthermore, recognizing that these decisions has undermined authority of the Lambeth Conference. The bishops voted unanimously to decline the Lambeth invitation. They join the bishops of the Anglican Church in Brazil who made a similar decision.

IN OTHER NEWS Beach noted that in the United Kingdom, St. Silas Church in Glasgow, Scotland, voted to leave the Scottish Episcopal Church because of that province's departure from Biblical moral theology.

The rector, The Rev. Martyn Ayers said: 'There are many presenting issues that have caused difficulty within the Scottish Episcopal Church in recent years, but for us this is simply about the place of Jesus Christ and his words in the life of our church. We feel the Scottish Episcopal Church has moved away from the message of the Bible, and that we cannot follow them. We have taken the decision to leave because of our commitment to Jesus Christ and his word.'

St. Silas now says it will accept the alternative oversight and fellowship from the Anglican archbishops who lead the Global Anglican Future movement (GAFCON).

Elsewhere in the United Kingdom, the Rev. John Parker, Vicar of Fordham and Eight Ash Green in Chelmsford Diocese, has resigned because of the diocesan affirmation of the imposition of transgender ideology on children at the Church of England school of which he was a governor.

Rev. Parker is an Oxford educated biologist whose objections to the 'training' being given by Mermaids, a transgender activist group, were scientific as well as ethical, but a rather chilling audio recording makes it clear that no dissent was allowed:

He has received no support from the leadership of the school or the diocese and is now leaving the Church of England. Explaining his resignation from the thriving parish where he has served for 7 years, he said:

'This situation, in its entire disregard for the Christian children and parents in the school, and those of other faiths and philosophies, provided another instance of what had been made clear in previous conversations and correspondence with Bishop Stephen [Cottrell] -- that my Biblical views on sexuality were not welcome in the Church of England and that I "could leave".'

Beach said that from this side of the Atlantic, all this looked sadly familiar. "We praise God that the Anglican Communion depends ultimately on the truth of God's Word and those faithful leaders who remain true to the Apostolic Faith."

END